My Head Was a Sledgehammer: Six Plays [Paperback]

Richard Foreman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Richard Foreman, a six-time Obie Award winner and one of the most influential figures in American drama, is widely considered the foremost avant-garde playwright in the world today. He founded the Ontological-Hysteric Theater in 1968 and has written, designed and directed thirty original works which have ben presented in the U. S. and throughout Europe. This new collection of Foreman's plays includes Eddie Goest to Poetry City; The Mind King; Samuel's Major Problems; My Head Was A Sledgehammer; and I've Got The Shakes. The directions included with each play elucidate the playwright's intent and crystallize his philosophy of theater. In addition, an unannotated version of My Head Was A Sledgehammer provides a look at the powerful language of Foreman's theater, apart from stage directions that may limit one's interpretation. Filled with Foreman's jolting, quirky humor, an obsession with exploring the mind's slippery territories, and a faith in new worlds accessible only through language, these new plays are among Richard Foreman's most effecting work. My Head Was A Sledgehammer is a terrific introduction to one of America's best playwrights at work today! -- Midwest Book Review --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 338 pages
• Publisher: Overlook TP (November 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879516224
• ISBN-13: 978-0879516222
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,895,981 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Essential Foreman collection, not the best intro to him, June 29, 2001

By 

Algernon D'Ammassa (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Head Was a Sledgehammer: Six Plays (Hardcover)

For an introduction to Richard Foreman's theories, manifestos, and practice of theatre, one should look to UNBALANCING ACTS, which includes several essays by him in which he describes clearly the revolutionary direction he is taking with his plays, written and directed by him annually at his little theatre space in New York City, the Ontological-Hysteric Theatre.

This collection of his plays through the mid 1990's includes a valiant introduction and, to its credit, something that UNBALANCING ACTS lacks: a facsimile of one of Foreman's unusual play texts without production stage directions or line attributions. (Foreman, you see, doesn't start out with characters, per se, and distributes the lines during his rehearsal process.)

Your correspondent is among those who feel Richard Foreman's work is highly visionary and way ahead of our time. It is also wonderfully funny and has the power to make you feel creative yourself.

But really, it is time to publish more photographs of these productions, as Foreman's talents as a scenic designer are getting overlooked!